Our next stop was Poznan, Poland, the hometown of Sarah's paternal great grandfather. It's a pretty large city, but we spent most of our time there in the city square, where there were lots of shops and restaurants.

Above and below: brightly colored row houses surrounding the square.


Above and below: some more row houses.


Above: apartment buildings more typical of where the locals live.

Below: a very disappointing Polish pastry. I was hoping to find some traditional Paczki (filled doughnuts made on the eve of Lent every year to get rid of any remaining lard, sugar, eggs, and fruit--extremely tasty--if you've never had one, you've wasted your life), but as it turns out, they save all their fat and sugar for Fat Tuesday, and this Paczek (the singular of Paczki) was only a regular Polish doughnut. Unfortunate.


Up for tomorrow: Wroclaw, Poland.

Our trip through Poland helped me realize how much of Michigan culture has been influenced by Polish culture and the Eastern European immigrants who have settled in the Detroit area in the last 200 years or so. Below are some authentic pierogies, a type of dumpling that I ate frequently as a child.


Above: Europe's longest wooden pier. Located in a town called Sopot, Poland, on the Bay of Gdansk in the Baltic, which we just happened upon, but which ended up being a big tourist destination and a great place to stay.

Below: the view opposite the pier.


Above: local pigeon in Gdansk.

Below: "Lody" is the Polish word for ice cream, and there were stands EVERYWHERE in Gdansk selling Lody Amerykanskie: 'American-style' soft serve in towering cones. I hadn't ever seen anything quite like it, but I'll take their word for it.


Above: rustic pharmacy sign.

Below: those sunflowers were the size of large dinner plates. They were being sold at a farmer's stand for about a dollar, and people were buying them, carrying them around, and picking out the seeds one by one to eat as they walked.


Above: we saw lots of multi-colored row houses.

Below: lots of tourists.


Above: part of the harbor in Gdansk. The tall building in the back that sticks out above the water is actually a Medieval port crane built centuries ago that's a symbol for the city.

Below: waiting in line for pictures.



Above: this is actually a working mechanical calendar that we happened upon in a cathedral. It would have been incredible technology when in was installed hundreds of years ago--and amazingly, it's still working.

Next up: central Poland.

Today's installment brings us to Warnemunde, Germany, a Baltic Sea hotspot that began as a fishing village around the year 1200. Today, it's sandy beaches are by tourists and northern European cruise ships.


Above: boardwalk to the beach.

Below: lighthouse waiting for a storm.


Above: some of the many tourists.

Below: the crowded harbor.


Above: Sarah's dream dinner.

Below: feeding/scaring the pigeons.


Above: not as many tourists in town.

Up next: Gdansk, Poland.

Here's a sampling of what we saw in Berlin. I'll post more pictures from other locales at a later time.


Above: The 'last' Cremlin flag (the fine print on the sign notes that it's a replica).

Below: Part of the Berlin wall. We were standing on the East German (communist) side.


Above: Sarah at "Checkpoint Charlie" (the former border between East and West Germany).

Below: the entrance to the Reichstag (the German parliment building, built in 1894).


Above: the line at the Reichstag (where's Waldo?)

Below: the Brandenburg Gate (symbol of Berlin, built 1788; where JFK said he was a Berliner/Jelly Doughnut; where Regan said, "Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall!").


Above: Symbolic stones at the Holocaust memorial.

For quite some time, Sarah and I have both been promising to post pictures. Today is not that day, but there's a good probability that I'll be able to upload some in the next 24 hours. So that's something to look forward to.

Yesterday evening we made it back to France without any major traveling hiccups. I even got to add another new country to my list, as our route back took us across (in 15 minutes) the width of the tiny principality of Lichtenstein, a country known primarily for nothing. And also for being a tax haven.

Pictures soon!